tonight on "world news" -- call to action. today, the president makes an all-out appeal for the youth vote. can he recapture the magic of 2008? nerves of steel -- how did that pilot land on half the wheels? terrified passengers. cameras rolling. owe bram ma cars -- behind the closed doors of the white house. our exclusive interview with bob woodward about his new book. the feds take aim at some pomegranate products. and hometown solutions for putting people back to work.

good evening. just five weeks from tonight, america will be getting ready to go to the polls. and the president pulled out his big halftime pep talk today. he call on the young people who created a stampede in 2008 pushing him to victory to come forward again. as of tonight, only half of those 29 and younger say they're sure to vote. three quarter of older voters say they will. so the president is hitting the road. jake tapper is in albuquerque tonight. good evening, jake. >> reporter: good evening, diane. so much of this four-state swing is about rallying the democratic base, which the white house has a lot of trouble motivating. in fact, vice president biden told a fund-raiser of democrats today that they need to remind the base to stop whining. the president gave a pep talk via conference call today, to college and university students, urging them to reengage. >> you can't sit out. you can't suddenly just check in

once every ten years or so on an exciting presidential election, and then not pay attention during big midterm elections where we've got a real big choice between democrats and republicans. >> reporter: two years ago, embracing the negligence of change, young voters turned out in droves, voting overwhelmingly for obama. tomorrow, the president heads to madison, wisconsin to kick off a series of democratic rallies, where he wants to re-create at least some of the excitement of a memorable 2008 campaign rally. >> we have given young people a reason to believe. >> reporter: there may have been no one more spellbound at that 2008 rally than bryan eagan. >> and i want to thank, also, my director of wisconsin students for obama, bryan eagan. >> reporter: eagan, today, says excitement and engagement is not close to what it was two years ago. >> it's going to be a challenge, but it's a challenge worth waging. but we're hopeful that once students learn about the election, who is on the ballot and what issues are at stake,

that they will once again show up and vote and vote for democrats. polls show diminished enthusiasm among young voters nationally, which is bad news for democrats since young voters tend to lean left. >> they're paying attention. they want to participate. but they're starting to increase in their cynicism about the political process. >> reporter: it is a challenge for the president to go from conjuring dreamy notions of what might be to defending the best that he could do. diane. >> all right, jake tapper reporting from albuquerque tonight. now, we move on to that story of skill and nerve. one passenger said we have our own sully sullenberger. talking about that white knuckle emergency landing at kennedy airport captured on video this weekend. 64 people on board. lisa stark tells us how the skill of the pilot made all the difference. lisa. >> reporter: diane, before we get to that pilot, let me tell you something we just learned about this aircraft. this model of plane has had

previous landing gear failures. in fact, the faa this summer issued a safety directive warning the landing gear doors could jam. it's not known yet if that's what happened here. this was the scene in the passenger cabin. >> heads down, stay down. heads down, stay down. >> reporter: chase benzenberg, who shot this video, said some were praying, others crying. >> the lady in front of me, i see her get teary and she reaches for her husband's hand next to me. >> reporter: the plane needed to land, but the right wheels remained stubbornly up. captain jack conroyd jr., a former navy pilot, and first officer larkin newby calmly called controllers for help. >> our preference would be to proceed over to jfk and execute an emergency landing over there. >> brace for impact. >> reporter: here was the danger. a mistake and the plane could skid out of control, off the runway or at least catch fire. at about 135 miles an hour, the pilot touched down on the only landing gear he had, using wing flaps to keep the right wing up

slightly. then, as the plane slowed down, he gently lowered that wing to the ground, applying brakes and tail controls to stay on course. sparks were flying as the wing scraped the runway, but it was a landing straight out of the pilot handbook. >> this is just good training, good execution, good procedures, >> reporter: relief for the passengers. but the question for federal investigators, did this plane have the faulty landing gear and should it have been fixed? lisa stark, abc news, washington. and another note, some big news in the airline world, more consolidation. southwest, the country's largest low-fare airline, is buying airtran, a smaller low-fare line, for $1.4 billion. the deal means that southwest will now fly into atlanta and expand its business in new york and boston. and out in los angeles today, an incredible number, the highest temperature there not just on this date but ever. it soared to 113 degrees in

downtown l.a. this afternoon. and in another part of the country, a levee is hanging on barely in portage, wisconsin, where the upper midwest is facing widespread flooding. the levee tadates back to 1890 t dozens of people nearby decided to stay in their homes and risk the cracking levee. and we turn, next, to court hearings today in a story you think you only see in the movies. five soldiers charged with murder. but several of them point to their sergeant and to drugs. here is chief investigative correspondent brian ross. >> reporter: in february, in a call for help from his army base in afghanistan, 20-year-old specialist adam winfield told his parents in florida via facebook that his staff sergeant was murdering innocent afghan civilians but that he didn't feel safe telling anyone at the base about it. >> he said that if he told

anybody over there, he would never make it past that night. he would never make it home. >> reporter: the winfields say they called six different army officers and a senator to get help. >> thank you for calling fort lewis. >> reporter: but were either ignored or told nothing could be done. now their son adam is one of those charged with murder, forced by the sergeant, they say, to take part in the killing in may of an unarmed afghan man. it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: other soldiers also say the sergeant, calvin gibbs, seen here in a high school photo, forced gis in his unit to help him pick out unarmed afghans and then kill them for sport, collecting body parts as souvenirs. >> he just really doesn't have any problems with [ bleep ] killing these, these people -- >> reporter: on a tape obtained by abc news, corporal morelock, also charged with murder, told army investigators gibbs was

crazy, that no one could tell him no. >> when it comes to killing people, it is too easy for the guy. >> reporter: it is shades of vietnam, including allegations that soldiers at the base regularly used drugs, hashish, laced with opiate, to deal with the stress of their lives in afghanistan. >> bad days, stressful days, days that we just needed an escape. >> reporter: tonight, the military confirmed it has launched an investigation to see why the warnings from the winfields about the murders and the crazy sergeant were apparently ignored, diane. >> all right, brian, thanks to you. and it is the book everyone is talking about, bob woodward's latest, "obama's wars." once again, wood ward has reached into the heart of decisionmaking in the presidency, specifically, a young president, just 14 years old at the end of vietnam, tested by the military as he makes his life and death decisions about the long war in afghanistan. but the book begins with the whiplash. just hours after the inaugural

balls, the president is told the reality of what confronts america on terrorism. woodward said, quote, the saber-rattling bush administration had not prepared for some of the worst case scenarios, ones the new president was handed in the oval office. you do have a heart-pounding description of a brand-new president. he gets the briefing about the constellation of terror in the world. >> it's a cold shower. imagine the high of being elected on that tuesday and then they come in two days later and say, "by the way, here are the secrets." it's a drumbeat. they're coming. they're planning. they're plotting. they're communicating. >> reporter: and what is his reaction to that when he gets these briefings? >> well, if you want to play what he told me. >> i said very early on, as a senator, and continued to believe as a presidential candidate and now as president,

that we can absorb a terrorist attack. we'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack that ever took place on our soil, we absorbed it and we are stronger. this is a strong, powerful country that we live in, and our people are incredibly resilient. >> i jumped in my chair a little bit when he told me, when he literally said, "we can absorb a terrorist attack." >> reporter: did he say it before? >> as best i can tell, no. i mean, all the people run around the white house and say, "we're living on borrowed time in terms of a terrorist attack." and i suspect consciously, unconsciously, he's laying the groundwork for telling the people we can absorb it. we'll try to prevent it, we're strong, we got over 9/11.

>> reporter: he talked, though, about a game changer. >> a potential game changer would be a nuclear weapon in the hand of terrorists blowing up a major american city or a weapon of mass destruction in a major american city. and so, when i go down the list of things i have to worry about all the time, that is at the top, because that's one area where you can't afford any mistakes. >> reporter: a terrorism battle and at the center, not an enemy, but an ally, pakistan. osama bin laden hiding there. the shoe bomber lived there. the times square bomber trained there. woodward's book had uncovered a secret warning the u.s. has given pakistan. if an attack comes from someone trained in that country, the u.s. will respond.

and take out 150 sites? >> it's political reality in pakistan. it's political reality in the united states. something like this happened and the president would not have a choice. >> reporter: even today, nato helicopters are ramping up attacks inside pakistan seeming to reflect that secret strategy. and what about the war in afghanistan? woodward's book gives vivid portraits of what he calls the veterans. the five blocks of granite lead by the brilliant general david petraeus, maneuvering against the new president to get a 40,000 troop surge in afghanistan and an open-ended commitment. the wary president battled them back. >> they said 40,000 and the president pushed them in the most direct way, i want options, you promised options. and he never got them. >> reporter: of all the things you learned, what surprised you the most? surprised you the most? >> that in many ways, this is

the obama we don't know. he just says, without qualification, this has to be a plan for a handoff to the afghanis, and for us to get out of afghanistan. there can be no wiggle room. that is his bedrock conclusion. he wants out. he said, "i'm not doing 10 years. i am not doing never-ending nation building. i'm not going to spend a trillion dollars." >> reporter: what's the angriest he gets at the military? >> at one of the meetings, if i can quote him directly, he just says, "i'm pissed." and he is, because they keep coming back about details and they're trying to push him in that direction and he's pushing back. >> reporter: it goes on for three months. more than a dozen meetings. the president pushed one way by

the military, another by his own white house team. for instance, vice president biden, who appears unannounced at the white house at the foot of the stars, warning the president not to fall in to vietnam. >> he works all day in the oval office and then he goes upstairs. >> reporter: yes, right, for dinner. >> has dinner with his family, sees the girls, involved in homework and their lives. and then he gets the briefcase and the stack of stuff to read and digest. >> reporter: it turns out even woodward, the king of getting people to talk, can't crack the wall of silence about the president's formidable wife. you've written before about laura bush's role. where is michelle obama in all this? >> i don't know. i confessed to not cracking that code. and i wish i had. >> reporter: glean anything about her role? >> she wants him home for dinner. on time. with her and the girls. >> reporter: it was november

29th last year when the president made his decision. 30,000 new troops to afghanistan. but he tells the military that's it, no more. and, withdrawals will start in july 2011. and, again, he sits down and he writes a six-page document? >> he dictates -- >> reporter: he dictates a six-page document -- >> to the military. >> reporter: ever before done to your knowledge in american history? >> not that i can tell. and of course, in the white house, what they're saying is one of the big problems in vietnam was the orders were vague. and so make them specific in this case. now -- >> reporter: also -- excuse me, but he also says that he wants every person from that room committed on the record -- >> at one point -- >> reporter: even in writing, right? >> didn't ask for signed documents but he said, i want everyone to look me in the eye and tell me they'll go along

with this. and he pushes them. >> reporter: and someone says to him, if you do this, it willbrook your war. he says -- >> it already is. >> reporter: and as woodward was leaving the white house, you can hear it on tape, a final word from the war president. >> he quoted general sherman from the civil war, he said war is hell. he said his job is to impose clarity on the chaos. >> and bob woodward says that intelligence officials asked him to remove only one item from his book and he did and you can see more of what he learned later on "nightline" and more of the interview. and still ahead on "world news" -- a popular fruit juice and your health, what's the truth? and going home, david muir back where he grew up. i love my grandma. i love you grandma. grandma just makes me happy. ♪ to know, know, know you grandma is the bestest.

the total package. grandpa's cooooooooool. way cool. ♪ grandpa spoils me rotten. ♪ to know, know, know you ♪ is to love... some people call us frick and frack. we do finger painting. this is how grandpa and i roll. ♪ and i do [ pins fall ] grandma's my best friend. my best friend ever. my best friend ever. ♪ [ laughing ] [ boy laughs ] ♪ to know, know, know you after this we're gonna get ice cream. can we go get some ice cream? yeah. ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do [music playing] when you take away all the canned chicken broth that adds msg,

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decrease in your arterial plaque. 17% improved blood flow and even treat erectile dysfunction. the problem? the government says it's just not true. >> we know there is no scientific evidence available today that supports these claims. but, the claims aside, we wanted to know, are there health benefits from drinking pomegranate juice? >> pomegranate juice is loaded with antioxidants. antioxidants have many health benefits but you can't take these laclaims to the extreme level. >> reporter: but is this a cure all? >> it is not a cure all. >> in a statement today "pom wonderful" said they stand behind their science and they'll make that case in an upcoming hearing. but if the government gets its way, "pom" will soon have an extreme makeover of its own. andrea canning, abc news, new york. and coming up, a passing. i went to my stylist and she said hair was growing back... i was like, yes, this works...

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but my doctor told me that most calcium supplements... aren't absorbed properly unless taken with food. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, soit can be absorbed ith or without food. citracal. a twist a twist of fate to report tonight. the owner of the segway company, those fast two wheeled scooters, has died on a segway. jimmy heselton was riding a new prototype of the machine along the bank of a river when witnesses say he plunged 30 feet over a cliff to his death. and another passing to note. the only member of the cast of "titanic" who was alive when that great ship sank, she has died. gloria stewart, best known for

her portrayal of the rose in the twilight of her life. >> the sheets had never been slept in. titanic was called the ship of dreams. and it was. >> she became the oldest person ever nominated for an oscar. she was 100 years old. and if you've ever wanted to see where the buffalo roam, here it is, 1,100 buffalo stampeding across custer state park in south dakota. if you were wondering how many cowboys it takes to round them up, 100 men on horse back. and up next, david muir goes in search of the ways people are finding jobs. copd makes it hard for me to breathe.

but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now, i can join the fun and games with my grandchildren. great news! for people with copd, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both, advair helps significantly improve lung function. while nothing can reverse copd, advair is different from most other copd medications because it contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help you breathe better. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. i had fun today, grandpa. you and me both.

if copd is still making it hard to breathe, ask your doctor if including advair will help improve your lung function for better breathing. get your first full prescription free and save on refills. desperate for nighttime heartburn relief? for many, nexium helps relieve heartburn symptoms caused by acid reflux disease. and for the majority of patients with prescription coverage for nexium, it can cost $30 or less per month. headache, diarrhea, and abdominal pain

are possible side effects of nexium. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. ask your doctor if nexium can help relieve your heartburn symptoms. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. all of this we all of this week, some of us at "world news" are taking you with us back home, back where people we know and love are finding solutions, american solutions, in this economy. first, david muir who grew up in syracuse, new york, taking us to his hometown. >> reporter: my journey back, through the hills that line syracuse, new york. that's me in kindergarten. and believe it or not, that's me, camera shy. and these are images of a time

gone by, the parades, the flags, carried through downtown syracuse. as you drive through it now, the factories that once fueled the economy, factories like syracuse china -- at its height, 1,200 workers. last year, the last of the jobs went overseas. tim louck's job among them. >> they think they can fool the rest of the world into believing they're still making syracuse china, when they're actually making it in china, china. >> reporter: and we found this everywhere. the tv station i wrote to when i was 12 years old. my parents brought me here to intern, got my first job. and look, all that sits here now, nothing but a giant "for sale" sign. a long ways from those early days i remember here, that tv jingle. ♪ you've got the spirit ♪ say you're from syracuse that spirit 20 years ago bruised but not gone here. so many laid-off workers now sitting at computers. of the 13,000 who finished the program, 60% have been hired. you absolutely tell them all is

not lost. >> reporter: and we found proof. first, scott gray. his 20-year factory job went to china. he feared his skills were worthless. >> i didn't know where i'd use them. i was scared. >> reporter: but one syracuse company didn't see it that way. they refurbish office computer networks and phones. now, they're refurbishing laid-off workers. >> these folks are left with what am i going to do? >> reporter: you actually pay to train them? >> we do. we bring them right on. >> reporter: we found so much of this reinvention. even during a visit to my sister. >> you're not supposed to tug too much. >> reporter: selling heirloom vegetables. in this economy, she discovered few wanted to trek to the farm. so she brought the >> they don't have to c the farm, that's the one thing we took out of it for them. >> reporter: and on this day, her kid brother tries to pack the bags.

yams? >> no, they look like yams. it's confusing. >> reporter: i have failed. they're laughing. a steep learning curve. but theonsryero cf& a steep learning curve. but theonsryero cf& am i fors? nearly all told me they have a parent who's lost a job or fought to keep one. david dwyer's mother lost hers. >> i learned from her that you have to be diverse in everything >> reporter: we discovered it's no longer what i can be when i grow up. how many of you are thinking about multiple things you could do when you grow up? a lesson playing out, even on our way out of town. the student carrying this book? tim loucks, that worker once holding his syracuse china, now determined to learn new skills. david muir, abc news, syracuse. >> we want to know the success stories from your hometown. tell us about them. go to our interactive map at abcnews.com/worldnews. tomorrow night, i'm going to take you back with me to louisville. take you back with me to louisville. we say louisvi

right here in this neighborhood, i grew up learning strong families and hard work means opportunity. and that starts with good schools. it's a tradition here in maryland-- and why in these tough times i've put education first. we've made record investments in our classrooms... doubled the number of charter schools... and we've frozen college tuition for four years in a row. and it's working. experts say we now have the number one schools in the nation. when it comes to expanding opportunity in every neighborhood, i know that we must do even better. in china, they're busy building wind farms and expanding clean energy manufacturing.